Blooded Gauntlets
Blooded Gauntlets are a Level 3 Treasure of the Redcaps. Overview There are gauntlets, and then there are Gauntlets. Blooded Gauntlets bear the same relation to their more utilitarian cousins that those gauntlets do to a pair of mittens. A regular pair of Redcap Gauntlets (if there is such a thing) rends flesh and hooks bone. Blooded Gauntlets, when in (or on) the right hands, do much, much worse. Blooded Gauntlets look more or less identical to regular specimens and it's almost impossible to tell the them for what they really are until they are in action. Then the difference becomes readily, horrifyingly apparent. Whereas the spikes, protrusions, blades, and hooks of a regular pair of gauntlets are merely sharp and dangerous, the ones on this treasure are actively hungry. When they tear into an opponent, the want to stay there and they'll do as much damage as they can. Witnesses (and the very occasional survivor) swear that the blades and such actually move to rend the flesh of the target once a punch connects. The hooks snag the gloves in place while the rest of the equipment goes to work ripping down to bone and beyond. The poor fool who takes a stomach punch from a redcap wearing these is doomed to a very few brief moments of agony and nothing more. Effects Blooded Gauntlets work like regular ones initially but once a punch lands, the player rolls Dexterity + Brawl (difficulty 9) to see if the hooks and barbs grab hold. If they do, the treasure has grabbed hold and the two combatants are now bound together. That means the defender's Dodge rolls are at +2 difficulty as are the redcap's. (Note: Weapons like sword, pole arms, shotguns, and the like are essentially impossible to use once the Blooded Gauntlets sink their teeth in; the range is simply too short and there's no room to utilize them properly.) Any attempt to escape requires a Strength check (difficulty 7, and the Gauntlet does a level of Aggravated damage as it's torn out), but that's preferable to the alternative: Letting it chew its way down for a level of aggravated damage every turn. Furthermore, this is the effect of hitting with one Blooded Gauntlet. It's entirely possible for the redcap to land a punch with the other the following turn and let both go to work. The downside to using this treasure is that they effectively pin the redcap to their victim until such time as they actually kill them and while that's going on, the redcap is an exposed target. Once the target is dead, the Gauntlets let go. Redcaps have no control over whether or not their equipment digs in, which means they can get snagged at times when it would have been much more convenient to have thrown a punch and just move on. The Gauntlets do not work without a pair of hands in them, but once they're put on they're almost impossible to take off (cost 1 Willpower) while there's still an opponent anywhere in the vicinity. References # CTD. Kithbook: Redcaps, pp. 84-85. Category:Treasures (CTD)